Atlantis Found?

February 20, 2009

Some guy with an upgraded copy of Google Earth claims to have found Atlantis near the Canary Island, off the coast of Africa, beyond the Pillars of Hercules … you know, where Plato said Atlantis would be. This is the image he discovered:

What are we looking at here? This is an image of the ocean, showing an area with a depth of more than three miles. The discoverer claims the lines occupy an area he describes as the size of Wales. I don’t know much about Wales, but I’m guessing it’s a fair size.

Is this the lost city of Atlantis? Let’s look at the pros and cons.

Pros

It’s in the Atlantic

It has lines that could be streets

It lies where Plato said Atlantis would be found

It’s underwater

Cons

No sign of Aquaman

It seems awfully detailed for something three miles down

Three simple words: PhotoShop

Wait, Google has explained this: It’s trace evidence left behind from the mapping process used by oceanographers. ” … What users are seeing is an artifact of the data collection process. Bathymetric data is often collected from boats using sonar to take measurements of the sea floor. The lines reflect the path of the boat as it gathers the data.” That’s an official statement from Google.

Well, we had our hopes up there for a few hours. Someday, maybe, someone will find evidence of Atlantis. Or perhaps not. After all, as most educated experts agree, it’s probably just a myth anyway.

2 comments

I saw this on the news as well. Unfortunately, Google has quickly dismissed the lines as being caused by the boats used to collect sonar data. (I may not be paraphrasing in an entirely accurate manner).

One thing is for sure, the Discovery Channel has 20 years worth of new expeditions/hoax-busting/urban legends to explore as the “Great Google CoverUp” has now become internet dogma.